Queen of Prom
by Chrys-DASL
Summary: Thora was once a country teenager trying to make do in a city girl's world. When she ends up on the prom ballot, she is shaken to her core. Does she let the power go to her head? For my 10x10 Challenge/NaNo2018


Thora (10): Chosen One (4)

 _Queen of Prom_

I was never one of the popular girls at school, not growing up on a farm well outside of town. I had to walk four miles to school just to get there, so on rainy days I looked like a wet rat. People didn't really talk to me, especially other girls. Because I still did all my work and did well in school, I was an outcast. Everyone here wanted to find a man so they could get married and start families, but I wanted my education.

I don't know why I didn't think anything of it when things started getting strange. I was on my way to second period when a girl stopped me in the halls and asked, "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"Excuse me?" I replied, not knowing what she was talking about. She scoffed and left! I didn't even really know who she was. I knew her name was Janice, and I remembered her from way back. Now we shared a math class and chemistry, but I didn't know anything about her.

The next thing I knew, my lunch spot was taken over by other jocks and cheerleaders. They surrounded my little hiding spot under the stairs and asked me who I thought I was. I didn't know what to say other than my name! They looked annoyed, so I asked him what was going on.

Someone had put my name down for the prom queen ballot, and somehow I had made the cut. It wasn't like in school now where they have a list of everyone's names go out so you can make a fair pick. Oh no, things were more archaic back then. You had to be written in by enough people because only the top ten were chosen, and I'd somehow made my way not only into that circle, but into the top five choices! The ballots were in the cafeteria the previous day, but I hadn't seen them because I always brought my lunch.

But the jocks weren't wrong, and I didn't know what to say. I certainly hadn't put my name in the ring, and I hadn't voted myself into the top five. How was I to know I'd knocked Janice out of her spot? I didn't even want it!

After school, I went to the office and asked around to see about getting my name removed, but the damage was done. Prom was that night, and not only was I only the ballot, I was expected to be there.

So I did something I never did before: I called my dad at his store and told him I was really sick and needed a ride home. Luckily a client was in the shop that he trusted, so the guy drove me home in record time. I showed up at home two hours early, and Momma knew something was wrong. We didn't have a phone so Daddy didn't call her. She figured it out on her own.

Momma made money making dresses for people, and she just happened to have a dud from the homecoming season—the girl put on too much weight and couldn't fit in it anymore, but it was just my size except for in the shoulders. All my farm work gave me muscles, so she had to take that out really quick. I had to borrow my sister's shoes, but they were a size too big so I had to wear a pair of socks under my pantyhose.

I didn't have a date, so Momma sent my sister up the road to my aunt's house. My cousin George had his date cancel, so he already had a suit and everything. Before I could even process it, I was in his daddy's car going with him to the prom!

It was really pretty, but I was very out of place. I barely knew my classmates because they'd spent so much time trying to keep me out of things, so I stood around drinking punch and snacking on refreshments. I wanted to dance, but nobody asked me, so I stood by the wall until the middle of the dance. That's when the principal took to the stage and called all of us candidates up to the platform.

I was the tallest, ugliest girl up there, but I held my head high as they announced my credentials. People laughed when the principal spoke, so I knew this was all a cruel joke, but I couldn't help but feel proud of myself. If it happened to any of the other outcast girls, they never would've showed up, but I did, and I felt like I looked pretty compared to what I did a few hours before.

When he read out the name of the winner, flashbulbs went off everywhere. It took me a minute to realize he'd read out my name! Somehow I'd won in the final round. Two of the girls got into fights, so some of their friends wanted to vote for someone else. Well the fourth girl was always mean, so they looked to the fifth girl and found out she was cheating on her boyfriend, so they went with me because they couldn't think of anything bad about me. They didn't think of anything good either, but that wasn't the point. I'd won!

I didn't let the power go to my head, though there is a nice photo of me in the yearbook with the prom king. Nothing changed after that. I still ate lunch alone, and people still didn't like me because I was too tall, I didn't have a boyfriend, and all that. I turned out okay though. You don't even want to know where they ended up!

Well, okay, Janice, the girl who was so mean about missing her chance on stage? Her parents divorced the year after she graduated. The whole town found out her daddy liked to go after boys behind the Shop-N-Save. He was the talk of the town, so much so that Janice couldn't get a boyfriend and had to leave town for college, except it was a nasty little college so they could save money. She became a secretary and got fat, had a few ugly kids with an ugly little man. I don't know where she ended up, but she finally matched her personality in her outward appearance, I'll tell you that right now!

~End

A/N: Piece 24 of 100 for my 10x10 Challenge. For more info, see my profile. If you'd like to participate, send me a PM when you submit so I can check out your pieces.


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